Voracek gets hat trick, nets winner as Flyers outlast Penguins

Feb 21, 2013 - 6:39 AM

Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Jakub Voracek completed his first career hat
trick thanks to recording the game-winning goal with 1:31 left in regulation
as the Philadelphia Flyers gutted out a 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins
at CONSOL Energy Center.

"I was just trying to throw it at the net so someone could get a rebound,"
Voracek said of his crucial tally. "But it took a lucky bounce and I'll take
it."

Wayne Simmonds added two goals and one assist for the Flyers, who avenged an
opening-day 3-1 home loss to their bitter rivals and completed a season-long
six-game road trip with two straight wins to finish at 3-3-0.

Nicklas Grossman also tallied, while Claude Giroux posted a pair of assists as
Ilya Bryzgalov picked up the victory with 27 saves.

Matt Niskanen, James Neal, Evgeni Malkin, Brandon Sutter and Tyler Kennedy
scored for the Penguins, whose three-game win streak came to a halt.

Tomas Vokoun was shelled in defeat for six goals on 32 shots.

Only 32 seconds after Sutter tied the game on a wraparound, Voracek's sharp-
angle try from the goal line to Vokoun's left managed to sneak off his body
and over the goal line for a 6-5 game with 91 seconds to play.

The extra attacker was called upon with 1:07 to go but the home team couldn't
squeeze out one more quality chance from their offense.

"He just shot it from behind the net, and I knocked it in my own net. That's
tough," said Vokoun about the deciding score.

Pittsburgh hit the scoreboard at the 5:07 mark when Niskanen fired away on
a rolling puck and it zipped past Bryzgalov inside the left post.

The Pens received the game's first power play on the following shift, and
though Bryzgalov gloved down Malkin's shot from the right circle, the puck
appeared to have crossed the goal line inside the webbing.

A review proved to be inconclusive, but Malkin made the most of his next
chance, potting a rebound at the right post with five seconds left on the
advantage for a 2-0 game at 7:15.

It was 2-1 with 8:11 remaining on a bizarre sequence. A goalmouth scramble
around the Pens' net -- which featured two near-scores by Philadelphia and
half of all players on the ice either within or near the crease -- was allowed
to endure for more than 10 seconds without a whistle. Grossmann eventually
lifted a shot over the mass of humanity for his first of the year.

Only 60 seconds later, the game was tied as Simmonds accepted a Danny Briere
pass, worked from the left circle to the top of the crease and slipped a shot
past Vokoun's pad.

"I yelled for Danny as he was about to shoot it," said Simmonds, who recorded
a "Gordie Howe hat trick" of at least one goal, assist and fight. "He found me
down low and I just kind of walked the puck to the net."

Vokoun's poke check halted a Max Talbot breakaway within the first five
minutes of the second period, and a relatively calm middle stanza that
featured 18 combined shots ended with the visitors up 3-2.

On a power play in the final 10 seconds, Voracek was standing alone on the
right side -- as he did to tally the overtime winner in Game 1 of last year's
Eastern quarterfinal -- to corral a Simmonds rebound and lift it home over two
bodies.

The Flyers went up 4-2 with only 18 seconds played in the third period. After
Ruslan Fedotenko worked a puck loose from underneath Vokoun, the disc squirted
to the right side, where Voracek alertly followed up and beat a sliding
defender with a soft shot. It marked the eighth time this season the Orange
and Black scored within the first minute of a given period.

Kennedy pulled the hosts within one at 5:29, getting a puck home at the right
post before Bryzgalov could close off the space, but Simmonds was credited
with another score, at 7:36, when his attempted cross-crease pass to Giroux
rolled up Niskanen's stick and into the net.

A four-minute power play for Philadelphia then fell by the wayside, and
Pittsburgh received one of its own with 8;24 remaining. Just 41 seconds
elapsed before a Fedotenko minor for high sticking provided a 5-on-3 for the
Pens.

Neal made it 5-4 with 7:14 to play on a far-side blast from the right
circle to end the first portion of the two-man edge, and Talbot was whistled
for closing his hand on the puck during an attempted clear, lengthening the 5-
on-3 even further.

Pittsburgh's Chris Kunitz had a potential tying goal with 5:39 on the clock
wiped out when replay revealed he used a distinct kicking motion, then he
tried to sneak a stuffer past Bryzgalov at the left post and failed on his
next shift.

Though the Flyers managed to survive the remainder of their short-handed
situation, Sutter walked out in front and tied the game, 5-5, with 2:03 to
play.

"It was an entertaining game, that?s for sure," Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks
Orpik said. "It was fun at times and not so fun at times, but obviously not
the result we wanted."

Game Notes

Voracek upped his total to eight points (3G, 5A) in the last three games ...
The Flyers improved to 6-1-0 all-time in the regular season at Pens' new home
arena, and 8-2-0 including playoffs in the venue which opened in October of
2010 ... Malkin's goal gave Pittsburgh at least one power-play goal in each of
the last nine games, and snapped Philadelphia's streak of 21 straight power
plays killed off ... Flyers defenseman Kurtis Foster missed his second
straight game due to the birth of his second son on Tuesday in Philadelphia
... The Penguins fell to 3-4-0 at home this year ... In 21 career home games
against the Flyers, Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby has tallied 37 points
(14G, 23A), including points in nine of his past 10 home games against them
... Malkin's tally was also his first in six games, since Feb. 7 vs.
Washington ... Flyers forward Matt Read suffered an upper-body injury reported
to be a puck to the chest, left the game after the first period and did not
return ... Grossman recorded his first score since Jan. 21, 2011 ... Kennedy
produced his first goal in 15 games, since Jan. 20 at the Rangers ...
Simmonds' three points tied a career high ... Penguins defenseman Paul Martin
registered three assists in defeat.